Created: 9/12/2005 11:47:30 PM 
By Tiani Jones First Coast News
JACKSONVILLE, FL -- A Springfield man rescued his friend, 5 strangers and 15 pets from New Orleans' French Quarter.
A plea for help from his best friend led Tim Jenkins out of his Springfield home and into the uncertain streets of New Orleans. His goal was to rescue his friend who refused to leave the city without his beloved pet. When he got there, he ended up meeting several other people desperate to get out with their dogs and cats.
"It was very terrifying, and I don't know what I would have done if Tim wouldn't have come. Really I don't because I wasn't leaving my 'babies' behind at any cost," said Cyndi Smith, a New Orleans Evacuee.
She says people who have refused to leave the city without their pets have been labeled "dumb" and even "ignorant."
Jenkins, an animal lover, understood.
"It was leave your animals to die and come with us. It's the only option they gave them."
"When the police finally came around, in the daytime, [they] put guns to their heads, and told them they needed to get out of the streets, get out, leave their animals," said Jenkins.
Smith says the stories are true.
"They pulled a gun on me at the pay phone and said, if you don't have an ID your going on a bus out of town right now."
However, she wasn't going anywhere without her dogs and cat.
Smith says, "I have an epileptic dog who would die without medication, I have a year-and-half-old puppy.
Tim rented a mini van, packed it with animal crates and supplies and headed towards Louisiana to get his friend, 5 strangers and 15 pets.
Tim says he would have brought more.
"There was a lot we couldn't take -- more stray animals then anything," he says.
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